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No. 6l5,|90. Patented Nov. 29, |898. M LA FUUNTAIN, .In MACHINE FOR SHEARING CLUTH.

(Application led July 1, 1897.)

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MACHINE FOR SHEARING CLOTH.

(Application led July 1, 1897.)

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NITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAXIM LA FOUNTAIN, JR., OF VOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE WOONSOOKET NAPPING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR SHEARING CLOTH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 61 5,190, dated November 29, 1898.

Application filed .Tuly 1, 1897. Serial No. 643,099. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MAXIM LA FOUNTAIN, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Woonsocket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Shearing Cloth, of which the following is a specication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Machines for shearing cloth are provided, in the case of certain classes thereof, with means whereby the operative length of each end of the support or rest by means of which the cloth is held up to the action of the cutting devices is varied automatically according as the cloth shifts from side to side to the other in the machine, such means being controlled by the cloth itself and the entire operative length of the said support or rest being maintained equal to the width of the portion of the cloth which is to be sheared. Instances of constructions by means of which this result is secured may be found presented in the United States patents to A. Voolson, No. 7,407, granted May 28, 1850, and No. 43,878, granted August 16, 1864. Heretofore in machines having an automatic adjustment of the character to which reference has been made it has been customary to employ a series of small slides at each end of the cloth support or rest, the said slides having capacity for independent vertical movement and being operated by means of cam-bars and connected operating devices therefor, by means of which the said slides are brought successively into position to support the cloth by their upper ends or are lowered awayfrom the operative position.

My present invention consists in a clothrest having the edge thereof which is neXt adjacent to the cutting devices made concave or hollow longitudinally thereof, so that the elasticity of the portion ofv cloth which is stretched across the said concavity or hollow shall be utilized in lieu of employing a yielding cushion or surface, as heretofore has been proposed. The said cloth rest or support has, at the opposite ends thereof, sliding pieces capable of being moved longitudinally of the cloth support or rest, sojas to enable the operative length of the latter to be varied, as'

may be desired, and also so as to enable either end thereof to be extended or retracted in conformity with the position of the cloth in the machine.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated the best embodiment of the invention which I have yet contrived, Figure l shows in vertical section on the line l l of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows at the ends of such line, part of a cloth-shearing machine with the said embodiment of my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a View in plan of the parts which are represented in Fig. l, it showing also certain other parts which are adjacent thereto. Fig. 3 is a view in cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2,looking in the direction which is indicated by the arrows at the end of such line.

l designates the cloth support or rest proper, and 2 is the concavity or hollow which is formed in the edge thereof which comes next to the cutting devices, Ithe said concavity or hollow extending longitudinally of the cloth support or rest. As will be understood, the cloth in passing over the working edge of the cloth support or rest is sustained by the raised edges 2l 2l of the said concavity or hollow and the cutting devices act upon the unsupported portion of the cloth intermediate the said raised sides, advantage thereby being taken of the elasticity of the cloth.

In accordance with my invention I rabbet, as at 3 3, both ends of the cloth support or. rest 1 and on both sides thereof, the rabbeted portions being of a length corresponding with the eXtreme range of variations in the positions of each side edge of the cloth. To each end of the cloth support or restIapplya slide, as 4, having the portions 4l 41, which fit on opposite sides of the cloth support or rest within the rabbets 3 3, the said side portions having raised edges 42 42, which are in line with the raised edges y2l 2l of the middle part of the cloth support or rest. I do not, however, entirely cut away the highest portions of the edges 21 2l at the places where I form the rabbets 3 3. Instead I thin down somewhat the said raised edges, but yet I leave sufcient thereof to support the cloth, and the raised edges 42 42 of the slide 4 fit IOO outside these reduced portions of the edges 21 21, the said raised edges 42 42 also sustaining the cloth on opposite sides of the intermediate hollow.

43 is an arm or bracket projecting from each slide 4 and having applied thereto the toothed feelers 44 44 and intermediate detent-plate 45, these parts being mounted pivotally upon the pin or screw 4G.

At 47 is the reciprocating rack-bar, which engages with the detents 45 45 to occasion movement of the slides 4 4 toward and from the middle line of the cloth, the said rack-bar being actuated in practice by any suitable means, not necessary to be shown herein. Suitable forms of actuating devices for the said rack-bar are shown in the patents to lVoolson, which are referred to at the outset in the present speciiication.

The operation of the devices which l have described is simple and obvious. As will be apparent, the slides 4 4 are operated automatically through the medium of the feelers, detent, and reciprocating rack-bar, and there` by are moved laterally in the machine, aecording as the position of the edges of the cloth bein g operated upon may vary. rlhe said slides constitute the end portions of the cloth support or rest and when moved, as hereinbefore suggested, serve to enable each end of the cloth support or rest to be extended or reduced in length, as may be required.

I claim as my invention l. The combination with the cloth support or rest having the concavity or hollow along the working edge thereof, of the slides applied to the opposite ends of the said cloth support or rest, movable lengthwise of the cloth support or rest, and having raised portions forming continuations of the raised sides of the said concavity or hollow, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the cloth support or rest having the concave or hollow working edge and rabbeted on opposite sides at both ends thereof, of the slides applied to the said rabbeted ends and having raised portions forming continuations of the raised sides of the concavity or hollow of the cloth support or rest, and automatic means controlled by the cloth itself and operating to move the said slides lengthwise of the cloth support or rest, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MAXIM LA FOUNTAIN, JR.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. GREEN, lll. S. LA FOUNTAIN. 

